HEITZ CELLAR (BOTTLE) 436 St. Helena Hwy. St. Helena CA 94574 (707) 963-3542 heitzcellar.com PEOPLE Joe and Alice Heitz were pioneers of the modern American winemaking era. The couple purchased their first property in 1961, a time when only 12 wineries were left in the Napa Valley following the scourge of Prohibition. The incipient …
SPOTTSWOODE (BOTTLE) 1902 Madrona Ave. St. Helena CA 94574 (707) 963-0134 spottswoode.com PEOPLE Founder Mary Novak led Spottswoode for over two decades. Today her daughters run the business. Beth Novak Milliken serves as president and CEO to the estate while her sister Lindy Novak acts as national sales manager. Aron Weinkauf serves as winemaker. Spottswoode …
SMITH-MADRONE (BOTTLE) 4022 Spring Mountain Rd. St. Helena CA 94574 (707) 963-2283 smithmadrone.com PEOPLE Brothers Stu and Charles Smith arrived on Spring Mountain in 1971, when it was still mostly uninhabited—though they soon discovered that the site that would become Smith-Madrone was planted to vineyards prior to Prohibition. More than 40 years later, theirs is …
PORTER CREEK VINEYARDS (BOTTLE) 8735 Westside Rd. Healdsburg CA 95448 (707) 433-6321 portercreekvineyards.com PEOPLE George Davis acquired 40 acres in the Russian River Valley in 1977, with a Burgundian mission in mind. His son, Alex, took the reins some 20 years later and continues to craft wines informed by his experience not just in …
WIND GAP (BOTTLE) 6780 McKinley St., Suite 170 Sebastopol CA 95472 (707) 331-1393 windgapwines.com PEOPLE Pax and Pamela Mahle established Wind Gap as a way to focus their coastal Syrah vineyard sources in a more geographically and stylistically cohesive label. Having always made naturally low alcohol high acid wines thanks to the proximity to …
RIDGE VINEYARDS (BOTTLE) 17100 Montebello Rd. Cupertino CA 95014 (408) 867-3233 ridgewine.com PEOPLE Osea Perrone, a doctor from San Francisco, first purchased the Monte Bello Ridge property in 1885 and the first Monte Bello wine was produced in 1892. 70 years later, four friends and Stanford researchers founded Ridge Vineyards bottling their first Zinfandel …
COBB WINES (BOTTLE) 18100 Fitzpatrick Ln. Occidental CA 95465 (707) 874-1962 cobbwines.com PEOPLE Ross Cobb studied Agro Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture at University of California Santa Cruz with an emphasis on living soil, thus paving the way for a lifetime dedicated to maintaining soil health and integrity. Prior to 2016, Ross worked for a number …
RHYS VINEYARDS (BOTTLE) 11715 Skyline Blvd. Los Gatos CA 95033 (866) 511-1520 rhysvineyards.com PEOPLE The 2004 harvest was the first vintage released by entrepreneur Kevin Harvey’s Rhys Vineyards (pronounced REESE), one of the bright new stars of California winemaking today. Javier Tapia is the winery’s vineyard manager, Jeff Brinkman its winemaker and manager of …
EISELE VINEYARD (BOTTLE) 2155 Pickett Rd. Calistoga CA 94515 (707) 942-6061 eiselevineyard.com PEOPLE Purchased by the Eisele family in 1969, the property was sold in 1990 to the Araujo family who first implemented sustainable farming practices on the estate. The Pinault family purchased the estate in 2013 and reestablished the original the name to reflect …
LITTORAI (BOTTLE) 788 Gold Ridge Rd. Sebastopol CA 95472 (707) 823-9586 littorai.com PEOPLE Ted and Heidi Lemon founded and own Littorai. Ted serves as winemaker and vineyard manager while Heidi leads the business. VINEYARDS Littorai owns both the Pivot vineyard in Sonoma’s Sebastopol Hills area of the Sonoma Coast, and also the …